Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Saturday Night Special" (spotlight)

Ed King, one of the original guitarists for Lynyrd Skynyrd, died last month.  He appeared on their first three studio LPs, and then left the band in 1975 (he later returned in 1987 for the post-crash reboot of the band).  Although he is best known for writing the guitar riff Skynyrd's signature song "Sweet Home Alabama" (he's also the one counting off at the beginning of the song), I also recently learned a few things about him.  First, he was originally in Strawberry Alarm Clock -- yes, the same Strawberry Alarm Clock that gave us "Incense and Peppermints" (insert "Listen to the Flower People" Spinal Tap reference here), he grew up in California and was the only member of Skynyrd that was not from the South, and obviously did not have the shared high school experience with the band's namesake, Leonard Skinner.

I had considered marking his passing using "Sweet Home Alabama", and the band's relationship with Neil Young, which despite the name checking in the song was quite positive.  As I've already introduced, Danette and I are big fans of both the band and the genre, but SHA is not our favorite song of theirs.  One of the songs that we do love and never fail to crank up and sing along with in the car is "Saturday Night Special", for which Ed King does have a co-writing credit (and he might have the count off at the beginning of this song too?).  It's a great song and was the only single from their 1975 LP "Nuthin' Fancy".  It also has the distinction of being a member of a trilogy of great Lynyrd Skynyrd songs that violate the lyrical norms of the Southern rock genre: cautioning against substance abuse ("That Smell"), running away from a fight ("Gimme Three Steps"), and being unambiguously pro-gun control ("Saturday Night Special"):

Hand guns are made for killin'
They ain't no good for nothin' else
And if you like to drink your whiskey
You might even shoot yourself
So why don't we dump 'em people
To the bottom of the sea
Before some ol' fool come around here
Wanna shoot either you or me

I recommend, based on the strength of the outstanding guitar work in "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Saturday Night Special", we forgive Ed King for "Incense and Peppermints".

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Saturday Night Special" (studio, live 1976-03-07).